Talk of India's balkanization is 'paranoid hallucination': Cong

Congress on Wednesday dismissed the comments in the website of a Chinese think-tank about balkanizing India as a "paranoid hallucination" of an individual which does not deserve the seriousness of a resurgent India.

"At best, it could be described as the paranoid hallucination of an individual...India is an inclusive democracy, a confident democracy which has got its rightful place in the comity of nations. It does not deserve the seriousness of a resurgent India," party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

To a volley of questions on the issue, Tewari said it was the opinion of an individual pointing to what western thinkers had postulated the theory of Balkanisation of India in the 1950s and 1960s.

"Over a period of time, Indian democracy has strengthened," he said, adding importance should not be given to the opinion of an individual.

He said the government of India has made it clear that it wants to strengthen ties with China and it has received assurances from the highest quarters on the territorial integrity of the country.

Asked if Congress was dismissing the threat perception lightly as it had done in the years preceding the 1962 war with China when the party was in power, Tewari said Indian state has a proper threat asessment and it continues to asess the threat.

"It does not serve the cause of a resurgent India to take note of an individual," Tewari said.

To a query about the visit of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to China lastyear and whether it was done for getting China's support on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Tewari said it was a "bilateralvisit".

He said India has engaged with a number of countries to get a clean waiver from NSG and China was one of them.